Toile de Jouy Curtains for the Staircase

I´m back in Spain and my home sweet home needed a few upgrading as far as interior is concerned…so to speak. I´ve been postponing to make a few soft furnishings but the curtains in this staircase area need to be done before we go back to home base. The thought of having blue and white curtains in the area excited me. It´s a color combination I always want to use in my home.  

Down the coast I went and tried the first curtain store…too expensive, they only have  catalogs to choose from for an order. In other words fabrics were not in stock and I would have to wait for a few days for my order to arrive… I want the materials now before enthusiasm in sewing the curtains fades away. Well, besides the time factor, the fabrics I liked had been too pricey anyway. The second shop, which is small in size, is just a few steps away from the expensive shop and the prices of the fabric there are always reasonable…

  

So, I decided I want to buy a fabric in blue and white since I´ve got a few blue and white plates hanging on the wall. I´m into eclectic decorating, I have an american Quilt Sampler also hanging on the wall,  the plates are spanish … what fabric to get???

And when entering the small shop,  there it was, I saw a roll of blue and white toile de jouy in cotton and standing at one corner of the store. A love at first sight!!! I found my dream fabric and right away, asked the saleslady to cut 3 meters ... And oh, (!!!) the width of fabric in  Spain is 280 cm, double the width compared to the ones I buy inVienna. It was my lucky day, indeed!

I used a curtain band that is pencil pleated. I have used this almost in all the curtains I made for all window treatments of my home. It was sewn on the back of the curtain and pulled the strings according to the size needed. . I found the bargain hooks from a Chinese bazaar. The curtain holder is a black metal with a fleur de lys pole-ends that match the French Toile fabric. 

By basting beforehand, the curtains are easily sewn and the finish is more
professional once the sides are ironed.

Additional ceramic and glass lamp found at the flea market  in Vienna that

complimented  the curtains and the plates

 The blue and white wooden shelf was constructed by me...The blue corniche on top had been remainders of the ones used for the kitchen installation. 

My corporate world is now set-aside, and as an official retiree,  there are no stress  to deal with, so I took my time to do the curtains slowly. The two windows got their treatments and the way I see them , they look perfect!




This blog has been linked-up to :
Feathered Nest Friday
Home Sweet Home